Secrets and Wives: The Hidden World of Mormon Polygamy

What do we really know about modern practicing polygamists - not fictional ones like the Henrickson family on HBO’s Big Love? We’ve seen the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the news, the underage brides in pioneer dresses on a Texas ranch. But the FLDS is just one of many groups that have broken with mainstream Mormonism to follow those parts of Joseph Smith’s doctrine disavowed by the LDS Church. Gaining unprecedented access to these communities, journalist Sanjiv Bhattacharya reveals a shadow country....

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Publisher's Summary

What do we really know about modern practicing polygamists - not fictional ones like the Henrickson family on HBO’s Big Love? We’ve seen the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the news, the underage brides in pioneer dresses on a Texas ranch. But the FLDS is just one of many groups that have broken with mainstream Mormonism to follow those parts of Joseph Smith’s doctrine disavowed by the LDS Church.

Gaining unprecedented access to these communities, journalist Sanjiv Bhattacharya reveals a shadow country teeming with small town messiahs, dark secrets, and stories both heartbreaking and strange. Polygamy’s dark side - incest, forced marriages, and physical abuse - is laid bare. But Bhattacharya also finds warmth in the fundamentalist diaspora and even finds himself taking an ideological stand for polygamy’s legalization.

More than just an exposé of Mormon polygamy, Secrets and Wives is the personal journey of a foreign atheist and liberal, a stranger in a strange land who grapples with hard questions about marriage, monogamy, and the very nature of faith.

If you could sum up Secrets and Wives in three words, what would they be?

If you have already kept up with the news stories and court cases of polygamy over the last ten years then you will probably find this book boring and tedious. I think this book would be an interesting read for people outside the USA.

Would you recommend Secrets and Wives to your friends? Why or why not?

I would recommend the print version over the audio version. If someone is not at all familiar with the different polygamous groups in the USA, this book might be interesting.

How could the performance have been better?

The narration was not good. I understand that the author is from the UK, but his attempts at Utah accents are just so bad they are comical. Definitely should have had someone else read the book if he was targeting an American audience.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

I didn't really learn anything from this book that hasn't already been published in newspapers or magazines.

I was spell - bound by the details of the people, their beliefs, and way of life. As a Utah Mormon, with lots of polygamist ancestors, I learned so much--even things I didn't want to learn. Only a thoughtful, intelligent outsider could have written this with such credibility. I highly recommend it.

This book is an interesting travelogue of Sanjiv's interactions with some very colorful personalities within the various polygamous groups in Utah as well as those who have left (escaped) the culture. While the stories are fascinating at times, most of the experiences that Sanjiv chooses to focus on are full of abuse and neglect and are at their core quite depressing. Sanjiv lightens the mood through humorous jabs at his subjects, their towns, and especially their faith. I strongly prefer audio books to be professionally narrated (not performed by the author) but it really worked in this case. It is like Sanjiv is telling you all of these crazy experiences over dinner complete with his endearing British accent. 5 stars for the narration.

My problems with Sanjiv's book and the reason why I gave the story only 3 stars are twofold. First, he is obnoxiously dismissive and mocking of the Mormon religion. I am active LDS. It doesn't bother me at all if people disagree with the tenets of the faith or poke fun at the idiosyncrasies of Mormons as a subculture. I'm cool with that, I think that Mormons are funny too. But if Sanjiv is going to call Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon a fraud and mock them mercilessly throughout the book, he better do his homework. His "teardown" of the faith was religious amateur hour and a book this long deserved a little more rigor than that. He seems to have given no serious consideration to the other side of the argument at all. In the end, the tone of the book was that of a smug, liberal atheist from LA swooping in to mock and disparage religious conservatives in small town Utah.

My second problem with the book is that Sanjiv really drills in when he finds abuse, oddities and "dirt" but seems uninterested in the truly happy families. When he meets wonderful people at Centennial Park and The Rock he simply says that they are great and then he talks about the flies or Bollywood flicks and curry. After seeing all of the problems in polygamy, why didn't these examples spark more intellectual curiosity? What are these people doing right? Aren't the positive cases as intellectually interesting and deserving as the scandalous ones? Apparently not for Sanjiv who seems more interested in proving a point (polygamy is evil) than understanding a multi-faceted issue. Sanjiv likes incest, abuse, intrigue, and suspense. But throw a happy community in his path and he doesn't know what to do with it. The snarky atheist quickly runs out of questions. Uh...more banana bread, please? I do agree with Sanjiv that polygamy should be decriminalized, just don't expect him to be fair and balanced.

I'm Audible's first Editor-at-Large, the host of In Bed with Susie Bright -- and a longtime author, editor, journo, and bookworm. I listen to audio when I'm cooking, playing cards, knitting, going to bed, waking up, driving, and putting other people's kids to bed! My favorite audiobooks, ever, are: "True Grit" and "The Dog of the South."

A London East-Ender, fresh off the boat with an Esquire magazine press pass, goes to Utah to get up close and personal with Mormon polygamists. They proceed to take him into their homes like he’s the first person they ever felt like talking to.

I’ll never know exactly how Sanjiv Bhattacharya charmed or talked the fundamentalists into it, but his narration of his exposé gives you a clue: he is a born natural, a charismatic, a comic, and a raconteur like few others.

Not recommended, unless the reader can see how the author's leftism and atheism renders him blind and dumb to the ultimate truth (Jesus Christ).

The problem with Secrets and Wives is not that it exposes much of the terribly destructive insanity of polygamy, as has been practiced by the FLDS and other Mormon sects. That’s a good thing... to the extent the author, Sanjiv Bhattacharya, does so, at least out of one side of his mouth. The problem is that he spends so much time essentially defending it as somehow understandable or not so bad and comparing government's attempts to stop it, to America's involvement in the war in Iraq, as if everyone agrees with him that that was a huge, unjust overreach by our government, employing the now proven questionable argument that there were no WMD's etc.

This is all because, as a typical, intellectual, leftist, pro-same-sex marriage, pro-abortion, atheist - i.e. stuck in his godless mindset, thus unwilling and actually unable to look at anything truly objectively - he also sees Mormonism as no more ridiculous than Christianity. Obviously not knowing anything really about Christianity, he outright mocks it, thus putting Jesus and Joseph Smith in the same boat… However, of course, as every true and thinking Christian recognizes, like most once were and like so many millions of other "smart" but blind folks, who are just as misguided and impressed with themselves as Mr. Bhattacharya, he clearly knows not what he is doing. There are way too many lapses in logic, common sense and good judgement, displayed by the author, to be able to address them all.

Would you be willing to try another book from Sanjiv Bhattacharya? Why or why not?

No. He is not a clear enough thinker for me - far too convinced of all the typical leftist pabulum and propaganda.

Any additional comments?

I did appreciate Chapter 3, where the story of Joe Smith and the history of the LDS church were presented fairly accurately and honestly.

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